These great shots and the rest of the online/print portfolio are the work of photographer Danielle Levitt. Meanwhile, here is the reason Miller made news, along with a very powerful interview excerpt:

There have been many powerful coming-out statements, but few as elegant and considered as Miller’s letter this August declining an invitation to be honored at the St. Petersburg International Film Festival. “As someone who has enjoyed visiting Russia in the past and can also claim a degree of Russian ancestry, it would make me happy to say yes. However, as a gay man, I must decline,” Miller wrote to festival director Maria Averbakh.

In his interview with OUT, Miller considered what he might say to his 15-year-old self: “I remember carrying around deep feelings of shame after I tried to kill myself, feeling like I’d stumbled or failed life’s exam. That I was now ‘damaged goods.’”

“What I would say to that younger self — what I’d say to anyone who’s walked a similar road — is to focus less on the fact that you nearly ended your life and more on the fact that you survived, that you lived to tell the tale. And then tell it. I’d say, ‘What you think of as scars are medals. They’re badges of honor, testifying to something inside you that is determined and tenacious and enduring.”

Other 2013 OUT100 honorees include Bret Easton Ellis, John Waters, actor Cheyenne Jackson and radio host Stephanie Miller. All will be celebrated November 14 at a big VIP bash at Terminal 5 in New York sponsored by Buick. Congrats to all for continuing to lead the 21st century way.

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